It's the tragic dilemma that some bands are faced with: how to carry on when one of your members has died. When Wu Tang Clan lost their wildest and most erratic member Ol' Dirty Bastard he left a hole that was near impossible to fill. We say "near impossible" because the band reacted by recently hiring ODB's son – oh yes – Young Dirty Bastard (aka Boy Jones) to fill his father's shoes. With Jones sounding and looking a lot like his father, it could turn out to be a shrewd move. "Ol' Dirty Bastard had the shit – I'm just the new sperm of the generation," YDB explains on his website.

"He looks just like him," says Wu Tang's Raekwon. "Dirty was Scooby and his son is Scrappy all the way."

Living in the shadow of a rock star parent can't be easy – imagine getting asked the same questions about those that embarrass you most in life every single day. Imagine getting asked if your dad really sucked off Mick Jagger or inserted a live fish into a groupie? It's a fate made worse if your parents' flamboyancy stretched to cursing you with a ridiculous name – step forward Zowie Bowie, Moon Unit Zappa and Rolan Bolan. One way of dealing with it is to change your name, lead a low-key life, work extremely hard and become successful in your own right, as film director Duncan (Zowie Bowie) Jones has. Or another is to simply adopt the mantra if you can't beat them ... join their band. It's not like you won't have heard the songs and old tour stories enough times already.

"In some ways it's as natural a career move as a doctor's child growing up and deciding to join the medical profession, or a butcher's son carrying on the family business," says Zoë Street Howe, whose book How's Your Dad? Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent charts the reality of being the spawn of stars.

With rock stars of the 1960s and 70s now being more than old enough to have adult offspring, groups who enlist their children as members are more commonplace than ever. When Led Zeppelin announced a brief reformation in 2007, the world's tub-thumpers queued up to offer their services, but the vacant stool was only ever going to be filled by late drummer John Bonham's son Jason (himself eight years older than his father was when he died).

Elsewhere Dweezil Zappa has spent a half decade touring Zappa Plays Zappa with the aim of introducing his father Frank's work to younger generations, Alice Cooper's daughter Calico has toured the world as one of his dancers, Tom Waits's son Casey is now his drummer and Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang made guest appearances with Van Halen at the age of 13 before becoming their full-time bassist at the age of 15.

Oliver Wakeman went one further by not only replacing his father Rick as keyboardist in Yes, but also replacing him in Strawbs, which Wakeman Sr left the year before his son was born. Then there's Ginger Baker's son Kofi, who is now drummer in A Tribute to Cream and Zak Starkey, former drummer with Beatles tribute band Oasis.

"It's a natural progression to choose music if that is what you have been surrounded by since birth," explains Howe. "You will have grown up in a family that didn't think an artistic career was unrealistic and so the usual barriers – 'Shouldn't you have something to fall back on?' – might not be there. But on the other hand, the prospect of forever being known as '_'s son or daughter' might make you want to explore other avenues."

Kids joining their parents' bands is something that has not yet reached the pop world, possibly because pop careers are rarely as long-lasting as those in rock. It seems only a matter of time before that changes, though. Just imagine: in 14 short years' time we could be enjoying two Justin Biebers for the price of one.